Niger votes on extending president’s rule

Bolstered by lucrative new uranium and oil projects, Niger’s president has plowed ahead with a referendum likely to extend his rule for years past the constitutional limit and grant him what critics say are near-totalitarian powers. The vote Tuesday on a new constitution supported by President Mamadou Tandja comes despite opposition among many who view it as illegal — from international donors who could cut crucial aid, to critics at home who say the Islamic nation’s nascent democracy has been hijacked by a new African strongman. “Our country is going backward,” lamented Abdul Razaq, a researcher at Niamey’s main university, who said he would not vote. “This is a profound setback for Niger, for Africa, for democracy.” Opposition leaders had called for a boycott and turnout appeared to be low in the capital. Though the vote was mostly peaceful, police in the northern opposition town of Illela fired tear gas at protesters who tried to stop polling stations from opening, according to an electoral official in the region, Harissou Moussa. And in Birnin Gaoure, 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of the capital, police arrested several people who tried to disrupt voting, Interior Minister Albade Abouba said. Vote counting began late Tuesday, after the polls closed. While democracy has flourished in some African nations like Ghana, the crisis in Niger and coups over the last year in Guinea, Mauritania and Madagascar have increased doubts the continent has put its era of authoritarian rule behind it. After three coups hit Niger between…